Should Secretary of State clerks be required to ask about joining organ donation list?

Emily Zoladz | The Grand Rapids PressJared Scheidel, 12, of Comstock Park sits with his dad, Ken Scheidel, while receiving dialysis at DeVos Children's Hospital on Monday. Jared depends on dialysis three times a week as he waits for a kidney transplant.

Jared Scheidel, 12, of Comstock Park sits with his dad, Ken Scheidel, while receiving dialysis at DeVos Children's Hospital on Monday. Jared has no functioning kidneys and depends on dialysis three times a week as he waits for a transplant.

For Jared Scheidel, Michigan's low rank in organ donation is much more than an abstract number. It is life and death.

"The waiting is long," said Scheidel, 12, of Comstock Park, who spends three days a week on kidney dialysis -- and hoping for a matching donor.

He is among thousands in Michigan on a donor waiting list.

Born with defective kidneys, Scheidel has been on dialysis most of his life. He has spent more than a year in hospitals. A transplant at age 4 lasted just a few years before his body rejected the kidney.

Earlier this year, an infection put him on the critical list.

"I'd like to be able to spend more time at home, but I'm not stuck at the hospital all the time. I'd like to be able to play sports and stuff."

Advocates for organ donation say a simple measure would boost the chances for patients such as Scheidel: Require Secretary of State clerks to ask customers if they want to add their names to the state organ donor registry.

"This would be a life-saving step," said Richard Pietroski, CEO of Gift of Life Michigan, an Ann Arbor-based nonprofit tissue and organ donation advocacy group.

As it stands, just 23 percent of Michigan residents 18 and over were designated donors in 2009. That puts Michigan among the bottom six in the nation, with Wyoming tops at 81 percent, according to a report card compiled by Virginia-based Donate Life America. The national average is 37 percent.

Michigan lags far behind neighboring states, most of which require clerks to ask, with every state boasting more than double Michigan's percentage of donors.

But Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land has thus far resisted that step, saying it could impose one more burden on already busy clerks.

She maintained her office has been active in other ways to increase organ donation.

"Our commitment to organ donations is stronger than ever," said Land spokesman Ken Silfven. "There are better ways to do it than some advocates are seeking.

"Our focus is to get folks in and out faster, rather than tying them up with a big discussion on organ donation," he said.

Secretary of State officials calculate the requirement could equate to 917 extra work hours a day for clerks.

"Where do we get the resources to do this? We are grappling with how to deliver good services with fewer and fewer dollars," said another Land spokeswoman, Kelly Chesney.

She said Michigan is one of just three states where the Secretary of State office administers elections in addition to motor vehicles.

"Although organ donation is an important cause like many others, it does not take precedence over these fundamental duties," Chesney said.

Pietroski credits Land with other initiatives to increase awareness on the issue. Gift of Life volunteers have year-round access to ask visitors at Secretary of State offices if they want to join the registry. Land is also pushing a measure to give taxpayers the option of checking a donor box on state tax returns. She makes frequent pitches for organ donation in speeches.

In addition, posters on the wall at some Secretary of State branch offices and footprints glued on the floor ask: "Do you want to be an organ donor?"

But other advocates say the person-to-person approach is vital.

"It does make a huge difference," said Aisha Huertas, marketing coordinator for Donate Life America.

Huertas said most people support the idea of organ donation. Deep down, many want to add their name to the list. But at the same time she said, "Most people do not want to think about the possibility of dying. Who does?"

But having a clerk ask the question can be the key that unlocks that door.

"It's all a matter of taking that extra step," Huertas said.

Huertas said she was unaware of customers in other states complaining over being asked or clerks over being given the duty.

In all, 31 states and the District of Columbia require clerks to ask customers if they want to be donors.

Huertas said Midwest states surrounding Michigan have higher organ registry rates for a reason.

By the numbers

Organ FailureMichigan ranks near the bottom in the nation in percentage of donors over age 18, as thousands wait for organs. How we fare compared to other Midwest states:

Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois all require that clerks ask the question. Minnesota leaves it to the clerk's discretion.

Those lucky enough to get life-saving organs think it time for Michigan to join the club.

In 2004, Kentwood resident Jill Tindall contracted food poisoning while she was pregnant. The infection attacked her liver and caused her to lose the baby. It nearly took her life.

"I was going to die," she recalled. "I don't know how much time I had left."

Ten days later, she got a life-saving liver transplant at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. All she knows about the donor is that he was male, 51, and likely died in a car accident.

Tindall, 39, has volunteered herself at a local Secretary of State office, asking others if they want to add their name as donors. She had good luck, signing up as many as 21 people on a given day.

But volunteers can't be at all offices at all times.

Her reaction to the proposal state clerks be added to the recruitment pool: "I think that would be great."

In the meantime, said Pietroski of Gift of Life Michigan, nearly a person a day will die as they wait for an organ. According to its data, there are more than 2,300 people waiting for a kidney, 342 for a liver, 47 for lungs, 85 for a heart and 12 for a pancreas.